Brett Ryan, 35, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the grisly Thursday massacre in Scarborough, part of Eastern Toronto, CBC News reported.
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Ryan, whose had previous convictions for bank robbery and other offences, appeared briefly in court this morning. Police found two men and one woman lying in the driveway suffering from serious wounds with a crossbow lying nearby.
In 2008, Ryan was arrested in the case of the Fake Beard Bandit, and charged with numerous counts of robbery, wearing a disguise, and weapons risky.
Police have confirmed that a Toronto man facing murder charges in Thursday’s fatal crossbow attack was previously arrested in connection with a string of bank robberies.
Authorities have not released the victims’ identities pending notification of family. He was charged with more than a dozen counts of robbery and later convicted. It was not immediately clear what became of the charges.
Property records show the bungalow where the incident happened is listed in the name of Susan Ryan. William Ryan died previous year, local media reported.
Police arrived to find two men and a woman outside the home with life-threatening injuries.
Police stand at a crime scene in front of a house where three people have died in an incident involving a crossbow..
Vijaya Cruz, whose house backs on to the bungalow where the incident took place, said she was home with her husband when he heard a commotion.
“My husband said he heard some screaming, someone was screaming there”, she said.
Hours later, authorities evacuated a Toronto building due to a suspicious package. “Then he said he heard a “bang, bang, bang” noise, and then someone was saying ‘calm down'”.
Cruz said she soon saw the flashing lights of a fire truck which was among the emergency crews that responded to the scene. Police said he killed three people and injured a third with the hunting weapon. “My daughter was born last week and my son starts school next week so to have this right next door is pretty scary”, another neighbor said.
Ragu Sangaramoorthy, who lives in the area, said he arrived home from work to see his street taped off. “I didn’t want to take any chances of disturbing, you know, making things worse”.
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Post-mortem examinations on the bodies of those killed will be conducted on Friday, police said.
